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              -  Home 
              -  How Work and Earnings Can Affect Employees Initially Awarded Disability Annuities 
              -  Part II - Work and Earnings 
              -                   Chapter 5 - How Work Can Affect Your Disability Annuity              

## Topics

-  Introduction 
-  Part I - How Age Affects a Disability Annuity 
-  Part II - Work and Earnings    -  Chapter 5 - How Work Can Affect Your Disability Annuity 
  -  Chapter 6 - What is Work for Earnings? 
  -  Chapter 7 - Activities That May Be Considered Work 
  -  Chapter 8 - Owning, Selling, Transferring a Business 
  -  Chapter 9 - Self-Employment 
  -  Chapter 10 - Substantial Gainful Activity 
  -  Chapter 11 - Trial Work Period 
-  Part III - When Work and Earnings Indicate Recovery From Disability 
-  Part IV - Your Responsibility for Reporting Events 
-  Important Notices 

 

Work can affect your disability annuity by impacting your annuity payment and/or continuance of your disability. Work and earnings can affect the payment of your annuity and must be reported promptly to the RRB in order to avoid potential overpayments and penalties. Work activity can also demonstrate a recovery from your disability, resulting in the termination of your disability annuity. (refer to description of medical recovery.) The following describes the effect of work on your benefit payments.

A. Work in the Railroad Industry

Your annuity cannot be paid for any month that you work in the railroad industry. This also includes work for a Canadian railroad that is covered under the Railroad Retirement Act. This restriction applies even though you may have reached full retirement age (FRA).

B. Work for Your Last Nonrailroad Employer

The tier II portion of your annuity, and your supplemental annuity, if any, are subject to deductions for earnings from your last nonrailroad employer. The deduction is $1 for $2 in earnings, not to exceed 50% of these components.

C. Work for any Employer

**Note:** This section refers to disability earnings limits. Refer to Form AB-31, *How Work Affects Your Disability Annuity*, for the current disability earnings limits.
                        - Earnings of More Than the Disability Earnings Limit from Any Work  - If you are under FRA, your annuity cannot be paid for any month you do any work and earn over the disability earnings limit. Impairment related work expenses (IRWE) may reduce the amount of your monthly earnings. IRWE include special expenses you paid for items or services that you need in order to work.
                        - Earnings  - Earnings include wages before payroll deductions, commissions, and other payments for work (such as room and board), and net earnings from self-employment.
                        - Penalties for Late Reports -  If your earnings are greater than the disability earnings limit* for a month, and you do not report it to us within two months, you will be penalized.  	                           - The first time that you report late, the penalty is one month's annuity.
                          - The second time that you report late, the penalty is one month's annuity for each month you earned over the disability earnings limit. 
                        - End-of-the-Year Adjustment -  If your annuity was adjusted because reported earnings were over the disability earnings limits, we will send you a form after the end of the calendar year, on which to report your earnings. Annuity payments that have been withheld will be paid if you earned less than the disability earnings maximum.

D. Work May Raise a Question About Your Condition

Until you reach FRA, your work and earnings will be evaluated to see if you are able to do "regular work." Regular work is the performance of the full range of material and substantial duties of any regular and gainful employment with any employer. Substantial duties are those that involve significant mental or physical activity even if they are done part time. Gainful employment is work that is done for pay or profit, or is the kind that is usually done for pay or profit even if no profit is realized. (See *Substantial Gainful Activity*, for additional information on work and earnings.)  **Any work performed after your disability annuity begins may raise a question about "medical recovery" regardless of the amount of your earnings**. (See What is Medical Recovery?, for more information.)

   

**‹** Part II - Work and Earnings
Up
Chapter 6 - What is Work for Earnings? **›**

   

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								Last updated: 01/22/2019